Madagascar's High Constitutional Court (HCC) has cleared 36 candidates to run in the country's upcoming presidential elections after receiving nomination papers from 46 presidential hopefuls.

The HCC published the final list of candidates for the first round of the election on its website.

The main candidates running in the 7 November poll is President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, and other former presidents, including Andry Rajoelina, Marc Ravalomanana, and Didier Ratsiraka.

The elections have been controversial as President Rajaonarimampianina earlier this year introduced a new law which barred key opposition candidate Mr Ravalomanana from running.

The law was scrapped after street protests and in a bid to avert a political crisis, the constitutional court ordered the president to form a government of national unity and hold elections.